Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1887-10-05

9 wrong tnat places his ship close al0ngslo
Z that of the enemy. Ny friend, you wi
/ never do wrong if you keep your life clos
alongside the Ten Commandments. D
right and you can be as brave as Maria The
, resa, who rode up the Hill of Defiance an
shook her sword at the four corners of th
r earth. "But," you say, .tyou shut us youn
folks outfrom all fun" O., no! like fun.
believe in fun. | have had lots of it in m
, time. But have not had to go into path
of sin to find it. No credit to me, but be
cause of an extraordinary parental exampl
and influence was kept from outwar,
transgressions, though my heart was ba,
! enough and desperately wicked. have hat
! fun illimitable, though Iinever swore ON
oath. and never gambled for 80 much as th,
value of pin, and never saw the inside of
haunt of sin, save as when ten years ago
with commissioner of police and detective
and two elders of my church, I explored
these cities by midnight, not out of curios
ity, but that might In pulpit discourse
set before the people the poverty and the
horrors of underground city life. Yet
though never was intoxicated for an in.
slant, and never committed one act of disso-
luteness, restrained on.v = the grace ofGod,
without which restre' would have gone
headlong to the bt u of infamy, 7 have
had so much fun L = don't believe there
is man on thep tin the present time
who has had more. Lear it, men and boys,
women and girls, all the fun is on the side
of right. Sin may seem attractive, but it is
dreadful, and like the manchineel, tree
whose dews are poisonous The only gen.
uine happiness is in an honest Christian
life. The Chippewa, wanting to see God,
blackens his face with charcoal and fasts
till he had vision of what he calls God.
| My God can see best when I take my hat
off and let the sunshine blaze in my face,
and after areasonable breakfast. He is not
a God of blackness and starvation, but of
light and plenitude, and the glory of the
MONDAY sun is Egyptian midnight compar.
ed to it. There they go-two brothers.
The one was converted a year ago in church,
one Sunday morning, during prayer, or ser
mon, or hymn. No one knew it atthe time.
The persons on either side of him suspect.
ed nothing, but in that young mans soul
this process went on: t'Lord, here I am, a
young man amid the temptations of city
life, and 1 am afraid to risk them alone;
come and be my pardon and myhelp; save
me from making the mistake that some of
my comrades are making, and save me now.
And quicker than flash God rolled heaven
into his soul. He is just as Jolly as he used
to be, he is just as brilliant as he used to be.
He can strike ball or catch one as easily
as before he was converted. With gun or
fishing rod in this summer vacation be was
just as skillful as before. The world is
brighter to him than ever. He appreciates
pictures, music, innocent hilarity, social
life. good jokes, and has plenty of fun, first
class fun, glorious fun. But his brother is
going down hill. In the morning his head
aches from the champagne debauch.-
Everybody sees he is in rapid descent.
What cares he for right, or decency, or the
honor of his family name? Turned out of
employment, depleted in health, cast down
in spirits, the typhoid fever strikes him in
the smallest room on the fourth story of a
f1fth-rate boarding house, oursing God, and
calling for his mother, and fighting back de
mons from his dying pillow, which is be-
sweated and torn to rags. He plunges out
of this world with the shrek of destroyed
spirit. Alas for that kind of fun! It is re-
morse. 1t is despair. 1t is blackness of
darkness. 1t is woe unending and long re-
verberating, and crushing as though all the
mountains of all continents rolled on him
in one avalanche. My soul, stand back
from such fun. Young man, there is no
fun in shipwrecking your character, no fun
in disgraclng your fathers name. There is
no fun in breaking your mothers heart
There is no fun in the physical pangs of the
dissolute. There is no fun in the profigats's
deathbed. There is no fun, in an undone
eternity. Paracelsus, out of the ashes of
burnt rose, said he could re-create the rose,
but he failed in the alchemic undertaking,
and roseate life once burned down in sin can
never again be made to blossom.
Oh, this plumb line of the everlasting
right! God will throw it over all our lives
to show us our moral dehections. God will
throw it over all churches to show whether
they are doing useful work or are standing
instances of idleness and pretence. He will
throw that plumb line. over all nations to
demonstrate whether their laws are just or
cruel, their rulers good Or bad, their ambi-
tions holy OR infamous. He threw that
plumb line over the Spanish monarchy of
other days, and what became of her? Ask
the splintered hulks of her overthrown
Armada. He threw that plumb liue over
French imperialism, and what was the re-
suit? Ask the ruins of the Tuileries, aud
the fallen column of the Place Vendome,
and the grave trenches of Sedan, and the
blood of revolutions at different times roll
ing through the Champs Elysees. He
threw that plumb line over ancient Rome,
ana wnas became OF tne realm OF the
G9saIs3 ASK her war-eagles, with Deak
ouiieo S!i ano wings oroken' nung helpless into
me !loer: ne tnrew IL over the Assyrian
T. empire OF Inousana years. tne thrones OF
oemlramis and aardanapaius and Shalma-
neaer' OK tWenty.seVen VICTORIOUS expedl-
lions, tne clues OF rnoenlcia kneeiing TO the
sceptre, ana m an the woria piancned IN the
presence. WhaG Decame OF all tne grand
eur ASK tne Iailen palaces OF fnorsapad
anu tne cofpses OF her one nunored and
elgnty-nve thoqsand soidiery slam Dy the
anger Oh tne Lord IN Que nignI' anu tne
Assyflan AS sculptures Oh sns World,s museums,
an !nae now remains Oh mat spienoor before
Wnicn nations Staggered ano crouched.
1ou Is now tnr0wlng enat pump ine over
tnls american hepupnc, ana u Is solemn
time WIN inns nation, ana wnetner we keep
MS capDatns OF olsnonor men, whetner
| rlgneeo1sness OF inlquisy Gomnage, wnetner
we we are OnrlsIlan or innoel, Wne.ner we Iui-
nil el our mission OF refuse II, W1eIner we are
lor 0ou or agalusS nm, we iaeG!os Wnetn-
:! we snall as hatioh go On ~ nlgner ana
aigner G career, OF 30 dSwn % IN sne @ same me- grave
wnere hacylon, ano Nineven' ana Iheoes'
| ana ASSyrla are sepulcnreo.